Saturday, December 21, 2013

Political people way too eager to involve themselves in “Duck” outburst

I
hadn’t planned to write a word concerning the recent alleged controversy over
one of the “Duck Dynasty” characters making comments implying he’s not
sympathetic toward gay people.

FOSTER: Will he benefit?

For
one thing, I have never watched the television program on the A&E cable
television station. The premise of it just strikes me as being stupid, and I
don’t care what this person has to say about much of anything!

SO
FOR ME to come out and denounce him for being a dink who needs to get a clue
about this being the 21st Century and how we as a society have
evolved just strikes me as being overkill. There already are too many people
out there who feel compelled to trash this person.

Just
as there are others who will eagerly latch on to the guy because he’s willing
to “speak the truth” about “the homos” and other people whom they are
determined to think ill toward. That says more about their own warped attitude
towards people.

But
those people do have the potential to cast ballots, which is why there are political
people who are eager to cater to them.

Locally,
the Illinois Review website (which also tries to appeal to many of those
ideologue-motivated readers) pointed out how Republican gubernatorial candidate
Bruce Rauner has his campaign ads appearing on the web site maintained by the business
of the family in the program.

THAT,
IN AND of itself, doesn’t mean much. My understanding is that Rauner is using
his personal financial advantage to try to get his name out in as many places
as possible – giving himself so much name recognition that the rest of the GOP
candidates are buried under it and can’t dig their way out!

While
the Capitol Fax newsletter reports how one of Rep. Bill Foster’s challengers
for the congressional seat – Republican Ian Bayne of Aurora – is going around
calling Phil Robertson the equivalent of Rosa Parks.

JINDAL: Forgetting 'free' speech?

Bayne
wants to think that Robertson willing to say what he did about gay people was “courageous”
and “a stand against persecution of Christians.”

Which
makes me wonder if there are some people who call themselves “Christians” who
believe that persecution occurs whenever they’re not permitted to persecute
other people! And how offended REAL Christians ought to feel that others are
using the label to describe their own thoughts.

IT
ALSO MAKES me wonder about the need of some political people who feel compelled
to seek out the votes of these people.

CRUZ: From govt shutdown to Duck?

These
government officials, many of whom aspire to higher offices in the future, are making
a conscious choice about whose support they want come those future Election
days.

Which
is what made a Washington Post story from Friday all the more interesting.

Amongst
the political people across the country who have decided to publicly side with
Robertson include Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; and
one-time Vice Presidential hopeful Sarah Palin.

IN
PALIN’S CASE, I’m inclined to laugh. Who expects her to ever run credibly for
anything again? But the other two have strong enough presidential aspirations
that the day will probably come when the public is asked to contemplate whether
either one deserves a stint living and working on Pennsylvania Avenue in the
District of Columbia.

The
Post also spoke with Ralph Reed of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, who
defended the political people who are siding with Robertson by telling the
newspaper, “These voters are paying attention, and they are going to remember
who stood up.”

Actually,
Reed – the one-time Christian Coalition director who himself has run
unsuccessfully for office – is correct on this point.

People
are paying attention to how these would-be politicians act. We will remember
who felt compelled to take this incident as an issue that somehow felt serious
enough to take a stand.

WE’RE
GOING TO remember those, such as Jindal (who has said he “remembers when TV
networks believed in the First Amendent”) who don’t comprehend the concept of
free speech to realize that those who disagree also have the right to express
that dissent.

Which
may come back to roost to the point where politicos will wish they had just
kept their mouths shut now.

Perhaps
they never watched the Disney film “Bambi” and the moment when Thumper told us,
“If you can’t say something nice, done say nothing at all.”

I am a Chicago-area freelance writer who has reported on various political and legal beats. I wrote "Hispanic" issues columns for United Press International, observed up close the Statehouse Scene in Springfield, Ill., the Cook County Board in Chicago and municipal government in places like Calumet City, Ill., and Gary, Ind. For a time, I also wrote about agriculture. Trust me when I say the symbolic stench of partisan politics (particularly when directed against people due to their ethnicity) is far nastier than any odor that could come from a farm animal.